Nearly every week, it seems, we’re given added proof of timber’s all round utility. This time we’ve got the ultimate – in my opinion! – a recipe from Forest Enterprise Wales for brewing spruce beer. Sling a few fresh spruce shoots in boiling water, ladle in yeast and molasses and you have the ideal tipple to toast the timber trade and to sip as you mull over another passing year.
The latter may actually take more than one bottle of the woody brew, as it’s been an eventful and exciting 12 months.
The timber frame industry has been particularly positive– and it gets another shot in the arm with the news that the BRE‘s Timber Frame 2000 project has passed a major fire test with distinction. The joinery sector is sounding pretty bullish too, with Jeld-Wen now giving vent to its optimism by investing in hi-tech moulding capacity.
The earlier launch of the multi-million pound Wood for Good campaign and relaunch of the TTF as a more marketing- and service-oriented operation also bode well. We’ll monitor the progress of both with interest.
The following pages also provide evidence that life’s not all a bed of roses. For instance, it’s predicted that Focus Do It All‘s creation of another 400-outlet DIY super-chain by buying Great Mills will have a knock-on in the merchanting sector. The panels industry also talks of labouring under continuing price pressures.
But, while business isn’t about to fall into anybody’s lap, signs are that the trade should continue to advance next year. The real key to ensuring success, says TTF director-general Paul Martin, will be for everyone in the industry to pump up the promotional volume for timber. And, it seems, that’s what everyone is prepared to do , with the Northern Ireland Timber Trade Association being the latest to announce a major marketing initiative.
So here’s to 2001. Crack me another can of spruce.
